Padraig Pearse’s can count themselves lucky to get a second bite at the cherry to retain their senior status. A late equaliser deep in injury time from the boot of Sean Fahey ensured that both sides would have to do it all again this Sunday.

SINCE THE early Irish monks began laboriously to compile the Annals of Ireland the writing of the ‘History of Ireland’ has become something of a national sport for academics, historians, retired schoolteachers, journalists, with the odd eccentric thrown in for good measure.